[ssf] Further trade worries

[Chris Malins]

Of the same revised requests:

'In order to allow each country to decide with no undue external 
pressure how to develop their offers, the EU will not make the 
individual requests publicly available. The EU is making available a 
comprehensive summary of the revised requests.'


How fortunate that only the EU trade commission, with its extremely 
close links to big business, and rather tangential links with any sort 
of democratic accountability, will be able to exert influence on Least 
Developed and Developing countries over services commitment. And, as the 
only undue influence the trade commission could exert would be to 
threaten to reduce aid, or for interested companies to bribe officials, 
or to threaten measures in other trade spheres, I think we can all sleep 
safer in our beds for knowing that people like WDM won't be able to use 
their strong arm tactics.

The last think we'd want would be for civil society to be able to engage 
with the Trade Commission on the appropriateness of requests, or whether 
they justify the commitments that the EU will make on our behalf in return.

Certainly, we wouldn't want independent research to be done which could 
demonstrate that it would not be in the interests of LDC's with limited 
research capacity to commit to these liberalisations.

Happy day that the commission is so considerate about undue influence.

Chris

PS. They're all a bunch of twatty-muffins